Burroughs, Lynch and Warhol at Photographers’ Gallery (CheapOair)

A series of three exhibitions “examining how photography informed and inspired the practices of three key 20th century American cultural figures” has opened at The Photographers’ Gallery showing “a relatively unseen body of work for the first time in the UK” and offering “new insights and interesting parallels into their creative approaches.” The key cultural trio? William S Burroughs, David Lynch and Andy Warhol.

Celebrated for their singularity as much as or more as they are for the calibre and sheer volume of work achieved in their lifetimes (of course, Lynch is still very much alive and prolific), these three artists might not be the first grouping you’d come up with for a gallery show, especially one of photography. But fans of Burroughs’ off kilter novels, Lynch’s surreal films, or Warhols Pop Art should realize how important photography is to each. Indeed, think about how much of what Warhol famously produced which started out as “just a photograph”. The same is hugely true for Lynch (after all, movies are in essence a series of photographs) and to a fairly large extent for Burroughs as well.